Apple: Purple Flare on iPhone 5 Camera is “Normal Behaviour”

Before, there was Scratchgate and Apple VP Philip Schiller’s “not our problem” statement; now, this. Some frustrated iPhone 5 customer contacted Apple Support regarding an issue with the camera on the smartphone, where images shot where light sources were on the edge of the shot resulted in a purple haze/flare in the area around the light source.

Granted, the Apple Support staff forwarded the issue to the engineering team, where it was met with a ridiculously blunt reply: point the camera away from the light source. In the Apple Support staff’s words,

“…we recommend that you angle the camera away from the bright light source when taking pictures. The purple flare…is considered normal behaviour for iPhone 5’s camera.”

While many have speculated that the purple flare may be a side effect of using sapphire lens on the iPhone 5, a TechCrunch reader has mentioned that this phenomenon exists even in high-end DSLRs, which have dedicated image chips to remove the purple flare in the images shot with them. However, these flares can be dramatically reduced via a firmware update.

Hit the first source link for sample images shot with the iPhone 5 with purple flare.